Historic Commercial Street is getting a gaming lounge.
Springfield's newest game store, Dirk's Tavern, is targeting a soft opening for the end of March, co-owner Nate Shuler said. The tavern, located at 210 W. Commercial St. Ste. A, will host board and card games, like Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, Dungeons & Dragons, Monopoly and Settlers of Catan.
“We're trying to make this place feel like your friend in high school's basement where you go to hang out and play games,” co-owner Ben Frisch said.
Dirk's Tavern will also serve as a retail space, where card and board games will be sold, along with gaming memorabilia and accessories like leather dice holders, Frisch said.
“We're trying to push a north side gaming initiative to get people in here,” Shuler said. “We really just want to bring that community out because there's people all over Springfield looking for a place to go.”
The tavern will sell light, pre-packaged snacks and drinks, like soda and energy drinks, Shuler said.
Dirk, a fictional “beholder”
Dirk is a fictional Dungeons & Dragons character Frisch has used for the last 12 years, he said. With the help of Frisch's fiancée, Hali Codling, a near-life sized Dirk — complete with a purple paint coat and jagged papier-mache teeth, will greet customers in the window at the tavern.
Dirk is “a guy in the window, he's a decoration,” Shuler said. “Ben's fiancée made him. It was originally a crazy egg-shaped cardboard mess” and “now he has turned into a handmade, hand-painted...beholder.”
The owners are leasing one suite of the 4,307 square-foot space, which previously housed offices for a web design company, Frisch said. Frisch declined to disclose a total financial investment for Dirk's Tavern. Frisch and Shuler signed the lease in January 2024, Shuler said.
The building had a total appraised value of $222,100 in Jan. 2024, according to Greene County Accessor's Office records. The building is owned by Canada Prop, LLC., which is registered to Corey Canada, according to Missouri Secretary of State's Office records.
Furniture purchased from a downtown business that closed
Customers might recognize the wood furniture that adorns the tavern. Nearly all of it was purchased from the Albatross, a downtown hookah lounge that closed in 2023. Frisch was a manager at Albatross when it shuttered.
“We're going for that tavern feel, you know? Like high fantasy,” Shuler said. “A lot of wood, we've got a deer head on the wall. Almost all the furniture is from the Albatross.”
Dirk's Tavern will also sell gaming miniatures and models, Frisch said.
“We're also really interested in the idea of getting some paint racks in here and having paint tutorials and learning how to paint miniatures and models,” Frisch said.
Dirk's Tavern will serve a need its owners believe is missing on Commercial Street, Shuler said.
“The north side needs something like this, especially on C-Street,” Shuler said. “There's a lot of kids on the north side who don't have any place to go or anything like this, especially if they can't drive somewhere.”
